Being intentional or running on autopilot

You have two choices when it comes to running your business, department, or team in 2007: Be intentional about the path your organization follows. Or run on autopilot.

Turning on autopilot is kind of like hopping in your Hummer, turning on the satellite navigation system, and following its exact directions from your home to, say, Las Vegas. As you may have experienced, computers aren't the best at making decisions. You'll get to Las Vegas eventually, but it may take twice as long. In fact, you might not even get there. You could just as easily end up in Las Vegas, N.M., instead of Las Vegas, Nev.

Many people deliberately plan their personal lives, but when it comes to business, for some reason, we don't take the same approach. If you're running your organization without a plan of some sort, you're just using the auto-navigation system. To be intentional, you need to map out your path and then you'll be a lot more likely to get to your destination.

This may seem overly simplified, but it's really that straightforward. The fact is 90 percent of us are running our businesses without a plan. Ninety percent of us are hoping our OnStar system will gets us there. But why not join the elite 10 percent that have a strategic plan and are reaping the benefits? The beginning of the year is a great time to turn off the autopilot and be intentional about the direction of your organization. Let's get started.

Many people are confused by the terms strategy, strategic plan, and strategic planning. Well, I am here to help you get a clear picture. For the moment, forget what you've heard about this subject. (It is really not all that bad!)

What is strategy? Strategy and being strategic is about consciously choosing to be clear about your company's direction in relation to what's happening in the dynamic environment. With this knowledge you're in a much better position to respond proactively to the changing environment.

What is a strategic plan? Simply put, a strategic plan is the formalized roadmap that describes how your company executes the chosen strategy. A plan spells out where an organization is going over the next year or more and how it's going to get there. Typically, the plan is organization-wide or focused on a major function such as a division, department, or other major functions. A strategic plan is a management tool that serves the purpose of helping an organization do a better job, and it improves organizations because a plan focuses the energy, resources, and time of everyone in the organization in the same direction.

Specifically, a strategic plan:

* Is for established organizations who are serious about growth and increased effectiveness

* Helps build your competitive advantage

* Keeps you focused on the right opportunities

* Prioritizes your financial needs

* Provides focus and direction to move from plan to action

It is not just the big guys with big budgets and big strategy departments that are using this management tool. Here are some small businesses that I collaborate with who have realized the benefits of strategic planning:

Primary Key Technologies is a web development firm in Reno. In 2004, the owner clearly identified his vision for his business to grow revenue without working additional hours. He wanted to stay small, not hire additional employees, but increase his profitability. To do so, he dedicated a portion of the company's time each week to develop specific kinds of online services that allowed him to take the company in a more focused direction. Now that the company was not attempting to excel in many different areas, it could better allocate its time while also charging more for its expertise in its focus areas. While it took several years for his firm to be recognized as an expert in these focus areas, and even though he regrettably had to turn away business that was outside of the vision, the company is now receiving direct contacts from as far away as South Korea and Great Britain requesting these focused services. He is making more money and is working less. Having a clear strategic direction and making difficult choices were the keys to making his vision a reality.

A Portland, Ore., company, Speak Shop, offers a real-time video-conferencing service for Spanish students to connect with tutors and instructors in Spanish-speaking countries. The company's mission is to improve the lives of language tutors and students and to foster intercultural understanding and respect. The owners have been committed to strategic planning for the past two years through the company's start-up product development phase. The outcome? An online service that truly meets the needs of students and instructors and the evidence is in the company's double-digit growth.

Transition Dynamics Enterprises' mission is to give people the hope, insight, and direction they need to use their transitions as catalysts to create a life that truly works for them. Through a strategic planning effort, the owner of this San Francisco-based business shifted her strategy from focusing on public and retail sales to working with coaches, therapists and counselors. She trains and licenses these professionals to use transition programs in their work with clients who are changing careers and changing their lives. Because of this strategy shift, the company has doubled its revenue from 2005 to 2006 and that is just the beginning of her growth curve.

The key to successful planning is to keep it simple. This process is not about taking on additional work, but rather taking all those numerous daily decisions and making them part of an integrated whole. You are "planning daily" albeit in little chunks. So you want to take the time wasted in little chunks and incorporate them more effectively. On a single piece of paper, answer the following questions and you will have your strategic plan for 2007.

* Where are we now? Clarify your purpose. Why are we going on this mission? Always ask why. And review your current strategic position. What is happening internally and externally that is impacting your business?

* Where are we going? Know where you are going by setting a big, hairy, audacious goal (also called a vision) that is crystal clear. Visualize the direction you are headed. Ask yourself, what mountain are we climbing?

*How are we going to get there? Lay out the road to connect where you are now to where you're going. Establish the three to five priorities you need to accomplish to reach your vision. For each priority, determine the goals you need to achieve in 2007 to accomplish each priority. Then determine one action item for each goal that you will accomplish in the next 30 days. Once you complete the action item, determine the next one and so on, until the goal is accomplished.

Now that you have your plan, don't forget that a strategic plan is a living, dynamic document. But all the best missions and strategies in the world are a waste of time if they aren't implemented. To be truly successful, the plan can't gather dust on the bookshelf. Keep the plan active so, it doesn't gather that proverbial dust.

When your organization has a clear plan and acts accordingly to the plan, you're going to go from where you are, to where you want to go! And ensuring your long-term success. Happy Strategizing!

Erica Olsen (Erica@m3planning.com) is a principal of M3 Planning, a strategic planning firm headquartered in Reno. Her company runs MyStrategicPlan.com, a web-based strategic planning system for small and medium businesses. She is also the author of "Strategic Planning For Dummies."